Saturday, December 31, 2016

We don't want to leave Christmas behind, I know it's hard to :). I am still working on sorting the pictures from Christmas day but I figured I would post about our Zoolight outing. The local Zoo is decorated with Christmas lights this time of year. We had been meaning to take the boys but frankly it's always so cold that I kept getting discouraged. Well, the weather changed on us and we got this Spring type weather in the Winter and I just knew we had to go.

We packed our crew and to the zoo we went. My brother, his wife and my niece joined in on the fun. I bundled the kids up but it was so unseasonably warm that we were all sweating bullets under our jackets and hats. I brought the good camera for this outing because I know the camera phones suck for night pictures and I am so glad I did. We got so many great shots of the kids

Our crew minus my brother who was taking the picture :).

The kids kept pointing out the lights in the shape of the various animals. They were getting up close and personal and loving it.

Tman and Jbird excited about the blue horses

Like father like son, my first baby looks so grown here. Did you notice the matching hats too :). I know, I am insane

The other boys were chilling in the stroller

My mom carried the baby who was chilling the whole time. Hubby was manning the stroller and I was chasing the boys around. I love this picture of Jbird wanting to give the baby a big kiss before he started running around. Are you loving that hubby and the boys were wearing matching hats :)

It was a busy night but the boys just loved roaming around the place

My favorite crew

Chilling with my Jbird

My mom and baby girl

My brother and his growing family with my mom and baby girl

Did you notice that my scarf was coordinated with the boys' hat, sorry not sorry ;)

Bean just wanted to run

So we set them free

I love this picture with my 2nd and 3rd so much

Walking with my babies

Photo op what up

The big kids were mesmerized by all the lights and all the animals they saw

This picture is hilarious because I was running ahead of hubby to get a paparazzi like picture of them walking around and this fool was chasing me so when I turned around they were right behind me. I did this at least 3 times before realizing what they were doing. Hubby and Tman were cracking up every time and I didn't know what was happening

I did figure it out in the end

Love this picture of hubby and my brother handling the strollers. They were not impressed by the display of lights but they sure loved that the kids were having a great time. How cute is this picture of them pushing the strollers around with the kids in tow

Before we left, we let the kids get some treat. I love this picture with everyone (except me)

The zoo was crowded, the lights weren't all that impressive and we couldn't really see the animals but the kids really loved this outing because they got to run around like free range chickens on a farm :). Our outing to check out Christmas lights at the zoo was such a great success. The weather was excellent for an outing in the Winter and though it was crowded, the kids were still able to roam free and enjoy the lights. We might have to add this to our list of things we do during the Holidays. Have you checked out Christmas lights at your local Zoo?

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Merry Christmas, hope you had a great time celebrating with your families. We had a ball over here and are still recovering from all the festivities. I always wanted to take my kids to a lunch with Santa type event but I never thought that they were ready. Well this year was the perfect year for sure because both Tman and Jbird were ready to meet good old St Nick up close and personal.

I searched high and low for a place with a lunch rather than a breakfast. When you have to get 4 little one ready for any event, a 9am start is no bueno. We found the perfect place that had a 1pm slot for lunch with Santa and we were sold. I am so glad we did it because my big boys were in heaven when Santa came to say hi at our table

Eating lunch with the crew. Poor Bean was asleep the entire time and only woke up when we were getting ready to leave

When we found the place, we told J who decided to join us for some fun with Santa. J chilling with my baby girl

This was such a sweet moment, too bad the camera is blurry. J's daughter meeting baby girl up close and personal

We tried to take a picture with our kids and chaos ensued of course

I love this picture of baby girl with my mom even though it's kind of blurry

My family at lunch. My brothers joined us for lunch, I just love that we get to hang out often

After an hour or so, Santa came to our table to meet the kids. They were so excited that they didn't know what to do with themselves

My niece was super brave and just started talking to him like they were BFFs

How sweet is this

Baby girl got to say hi too

I tried taking a picture of the kids with Santa

After lunch, we took a picture of part of our crew with Santa and the Grinch

Lunch with Santa was such a great success. I am so happy that we were able to squeeze a visit before the holidays. The phone picture were all somewhat blurry, I wish I brought the good camera. Maybe next time. Have you done breakfast or lunch with Santa? did your kids love it as much as mine? We will definitely plan to do this every year from now on.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Life has been pretty busy and hectic lately and with Christmas coming at rapid speed it is not showing any signs of letting up. I like it busy but I must say, it's crazy with 4 kids and a schedule full of activities. I have no doubt that we will have to slow things down a bit after the holidays.

Do you guys remember when I shared my Jbird's speech delay issue in this post? Well, it's been a crazy roller coaster ride and I plan to do a full blog post about it. However, he has made so many great progress that I can't even contain my excitement. My baby is talking you guys, like really talking and expressing himself and everything using words. He has responded well to therapy and he is now not only a talker but he is also doing well with his social interaction with other kids and adults.

I want to scream for joy and yell it on every roof top because I am just so freaking happy. Jbird is really into his alphabet and spelling words lately. I made these videos of him in action. I am so proud of this kid. We still have a long way to go but I just want to celebrate how far we've come. Pardon me while I gloat today, tomorrow we will be back to our regular schedule.

Check out my Jbird spelling a bunch of words all by himself, eeeeek.

I always tell Jbird that he has to teach his brother Bean about the alphabet. Next thing I know he is on the stairs telling him about letters. I of course grabbed the camera and asked him to do it again

Anyway, back to the crazy activities of our past weekends. Three weekends ago, we had 3 events in one day, seriously. Two of them included the kids and one was just an ugly sweater party for the adults. The first kid's birthday was a beautiful afternoon tea party. I am telling you, my friend went all out on the décor for her daughter's 4th birthday. You guys, I took some serious notes ;)

I mean look a this set up for the kids

My mom and my baby girl learning about all the girly things. I love this pic so much

My mom and the kids chilling with the birthday girl. Look at that tutu, I am so going to be that mom

Me and my brood, I am so lucky to call these awesome kids mine. Baby girl and I will be wearing matching bows for the rest of our lives (or at least for as long as she lets me). Look at my smiling Tman, that kid is so grown now. Don't mind Jbird and Bean, they were too busy doing their own thing

I am so lucky to have my mom by my side. She makes raising these kids such a breeze

Everything is so much easier and fun with this crew. Are you amaze at how big my baby girl look in this picture like I am, twining with my mini me

My mom joined the kids at their table for snack

They had some face painting activities going on and my little Tiger got his face painted

After that birthday party, we went to another party. Hubby joined us at that party

The boys were loving the ball pit. Check out Tman being a loving brother to his sister

After the second party, we took the boys home and left them there with my mom while we went to the ugly Christmas sweater extravaganza. It was a busy day for sure but you know we love to be busy all the time.

The weekend after that we only had 2 parties in one day :). The first was my cousin's baby shower. She is expecting her first child and it was great cause for celebration. My mom and I took baby girl to the shower while hubby stayed at home with the boys

Check out my cousin with her adorable bump. Matching bows with my baby girl what up :)

Baby girl was the life of the party chilling with my mom and uncle

Well hello there princess, I am loving all the pink

My current favorite pic of my momma with my baby girl, twins :)

Goofing off with the pregnant girl. It's hard to believe that this was me less than 6 months ago

After the baby shower we went over to my BFF L for our usual family dinner. L and I were reminiscing about the good old days and couldn't believe that we met 17 years ago in our freshman computer science class. 17 years you guys, insane

The discussions were intense, the food was good and the company amazing as always

L's husband chilling with baby girl, he was a total baby whisperer and I am so in love with those cheeks on my baby girl

My boys played peacefully in the playroom for a bit. This was such a beautiful sight. Just so you know, they completely destroyed that room by the time we were done with dinner :)

Our life has been so hectic lately but it all comes with the territory when you are a social butterfly :). It also doesn't help that we love spending time with our family and friends. The days might be long but the years are short. I love that we still find the strength to take the kids place and hang out with our friends.